For Immediate Release
Alan D. Crockett, ACEC, 202-682-4301; acrockett@acec.org
Loei Badreddine, GRAEF, 414-259-1500; loei.badreddine@graef-usa.com
Milwaukee Firm’s Distinctive Design Creates New Multi-Purpose Campus Landmark
WASHINGTON, DC (March 4, 2013)—GRAEF of Milwaukee, Wis., has earned a National Recognition Award for exemplary engineering achievement in the American Council of Engineering Companies’ (ACEC) 47th annual Engineering Excellence Awards for designing structural systems for the new Union South at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The 275,000-square foot, eight-story Union South offers students and visitors a variety of entertainment, dining, and recreation options, plus a 60-room campus hotel. To fit the site’s unusual shape, the project team developed a stacked “boomerang” configuration for the building.
Creative engineering and advanced modeling technology helped engineers craft a non-traditional network of support columns that provide the required stability for the stacked levels and uses without compromising space layouts. Outdoor spaces also inspired the team’s creativity, with the main pedestrian plaza located atop a multi-level underground parking structure.
All 146 National Recognition Award winners will be honored as preeminent 2013 engineering achievements at the black-tie Engineering Excellence Awards Gala—known as the “Academy Awards of the engineering industry”—to be held Tuesday, April 23, 2013 at The Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, D.C. Each award winner is also eligible for one of EEA’s top 24 awards—16 Honor Awards, 8 Grand Awards and the prestigious “Grand Conceptor Award” for the year’s most outstanding overall engineering achievement.
Judging for the top awards took place in February, conducted by a nationwide panel of more than 30 engineers, architects, government representatives, media members, and academics. Awards criteria included uniqueness and originality, technical innovation, social and economic value, complexity, and success in enhancing the practice of engineering. All top award winners will be announced shortly before the Gala, except the Grand Conceptor Award winner—which is chosen from the eight Grand Award winners and only revealed the night of the Gala.
The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) is the business association of America’s engineering industry, representing more than 5,000 independent engineering firms and more than 500,000 professionals throughout the U.S. engaged in the development of America’s transportation, water and energy infrastructure, along with environmental, industrial and other public and private facilities. Founded in 1909, ACEC is a national federation of 51 state and regional organizations.
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